TeamWork’s Blog

We are definitely starting to see a new and brighter horizon in the real estate world.

Inventory is down, prices in some cases appear to be stabilizing a bit.

We’re getting bullish on the market.

Even though our main office is in Palmetto on the Manatee River we work across Sarasota and Manatee counties.

We’re proud to say we just opened an office for an agent in downtown Sarasota.

Time to expand a bit, make a little breathing room by showing our confidence in Troy Funk and his team.

We’re making plans to open a whole new office in downtown Sarasota because we believe the market is about to turn and we want to ensure we can best serve our clients from here and there.

All the best
Greg Owens P.A.
Keller Williams On the water
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com

This week I spent some time on Palm Island/Don Pedro Island looking at vacant beach front land.

A couple of years ago a fifty foot frontage lot on the Gulf of Mexico would have cost you close to or more than $1 million.

Now you can get 125 feet of gulf frontage under a million.

Imagine a dream home on the Gulf of Mexico, surf and sand at your back door on an island only accessible by boat or ferry yet close to a marina and a grocery store.

A place where everything moves slower. Where most people drive a golf cart to go anywhere. Where people wave and know each other.

This truly is affordable luxury.

All the best
Greg Owens P.A.
Keller Williams Realty
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com

Across the street from our office in downtown Palmetto, Florida there is a sail boat regatta today.

It’s about 95 degrees out and sunny

Enough with how beautiful our area is, which why a lot of people want to live here, on to real estate.

For single family homes we are down to a 11 month supply in Manatee County based on sold homes. If you consider about this time last year that was 13 months and in 2007 is it was 19 months, you can pretty much tell where this market is going.

I can tell you from recent experience the pickings are a lot slimmer out there than they were even just a few months ago.

In addition if you are looking for homes that are not a short sale because you don’t have time to wait 4 to 6 months to get in to a house well your choices get to be a lot fewer.

It also means seller’s are starting to dig in their heels on prices a little more.

It doesn’t mean there aren’t bargains still out there it just means we are getting back to a normal market.

All the best
Greg Owens PA
Keller Williams Realty of Greater Manatee
941.932.6343

Here is what is happening in our Manatee market for single family homes according to the latest Trendgraphix statistics

The under and over 200k market are like night and day.

From May 8 last year to this year, overall over 200k sales are down, prices per square foot are still dropping, pending sales are down, and it is still a strong buyers market. Under 200k based on current inventory available it is a sellers market.

(Seven months or greater of inventory is considered a buyers market, 5-7 months a neutral market, 5 or less months a sellers market)

Stats:
As of May 8, 2009
2305 for sale homes on the market
108 sold in the previous 30 days
215 pending sales
21.3 months of inventory based on sold homes
10.7 months based on pending sales
46.1 percent drop in homes for sale
63.1 drop in sold homes
29 percent drop in pending sales.

Now under 200k different story.

898 for sale homes on the market
155 sold in the previous 30 days
279 pending sales
5.8 months of inventory based on sold homes
3.2 months of inventory based on pending sales
36.8 drop in homes for sale
86.7 percent increase in sold homes
184.7 percent increase in pending sales

All the best
Greg Owens PA
Keller Williams Realty of Greater Manatee
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com

If you live in Manatee or Sarasota counties you are never too far from a beach.

With our busy lives we sometimes forget that. It is one of the reasons many of us live here.

My wife and I have vowed to take a walk on the beach at least twice a week in the evening to remind us of that joy.

We did just that yesterday at Bradenton Beach.

There is nothing quite like walking along the beach at sunset feeling the warm gulf waters splashing at your feet while you watch the sun go down.

What a wonderful feeling.

All the best
Greg Owens P.A.
Keller Williams Realty of Greater Manatee
941.932.6343

Sarasota and Manatee counties were a couple of the first places in Florida to take a hit in the recession.

Prices dropped fast and continue to drop in the over 200k single family home market.

But things change quickly in this market.

For months now good location, good condition single family homes under 200k have been flying off the shelves.

With foreclosures it has not been unusual for multiple offers the day the home hits the market in that range.

Now take that one step further. We are finding the same situation with shorts sales.

The sales that often take months to close we are getting multiple offers on within days of them being listed.

As the foreclosure market dries up in the under 200k range the interest has shifted to whatever buyer’s can find.

All the best
Greg Owens PA
Keller Williams Realty of Greater Manatee
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com

For some people the real estate fairy has arrived.

From our waterfront view in Palmetto on the Manatee River I look out at the water every day.

It used to be waterfront, sailboat waterfront, was far too expensive for many buyers.

Not any more.

Decent water front where you can have your sailboat on a canal at your backyard can be had for under 500k.

In some cases well under 500k.

We’re talking Tampa Bay and Gulf of Mexico in a couple of minutes depending on how fast your boat goes.

With record low mortgage rates and good selection of inventory those water front dreams can come true.

All the best
Greg Owens PA
Keller Williams Realty of Greater Manatee
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com

Now is when the feeding frenzy begins.

In the Sarasota/Manatee market you could pick up a nice single family home, good location, in good condition for $150k, heck for under $200k you probably could have got a pool.

We’re talking talking decent square footage, newer all the stuff buyers like.

Well, that inventory under 200k has now dropped to seller’s market levels which is under 5 months of inventory according to pending sales and just slightly above based on sold homes, according to the latest Trendgraphix statistics.

It doesn’t mean you won’t find the homes. Heck, there are possibly be going to be thousands of more foreclosures coming on the market in Florida in the next few months.

But the competition to scoop those bargain properties has heated up. Sarasota and Manatee you will find multiple offers on those decent under 200k homes.

They used to stay on the market for months, then weeks, then days and now hours.

Some of the best deals don’t even last that long.

All the best
Greg Owens
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com

This is why we are in the perfect real estate storm for buyer’s. This storm is a good thing.

Record low mortgage rates

High inventory

Low prices

Most if not all of us alive today will probably never see the same opportunity to buy real estate.

Real estate historically goes up between 3 and 4 percent per year. Take out the rocket ride up of a few years ago and the over the cliff plummet of recent times and we should end up right back at that level.

And throw in the government $8,000 incentive for first time home buyers and some decent short sale and foreclosures driving down prices just to put icing on the cake.

This is one of those moments in history where everyone will say “I should have bought a house back then.”

Enough said.

All the best
Greg Owens PA
Keller Williams Realty of Greater Manatee
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com

Get it real, get it sold.

It still amazes me in this market I still see homes so over priced, well it in fact does make me chuckle.

The same seller’s are going through agent after agent that doesn’t sell their home hoping the real estate fairy will touch them with their magic wand for their overpriced property.

OK, this is the market place, not a fairy tale.

For the near future foreclosures and short sales are going to continue to set the pace for prices on the market.

If you are trying to sell your home and you can’t compete with those prices, here is my sage advice, get out of the market for now.

It isn’t the marketing, it isn’t the staging, it is all about the price.

Homes sales are only about three items. Condition, location and price. If you have the first and you have not sold your home, see number three.

If you have to sell, well see the line above about the foreclosures and short sales.

Prices have not stabilized, they continue to drop in the over 200k range for single family homes in Manatee and Sarasota counties. When that changes, maybe the real estate fairy will return.

All the best
Greg Owens PA
Keller Williams Realty of Greater Manatee
941.932.6343